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WASHINGTON – The federal regulator overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stood by his support of jillions of taxpayer dollars for jural fees defending the structure giants and their executives after business scandals, informing provoked House NGO members on weekday that his agency was indebted to do so.

Figures from the House Financial Services Committee's oversight subcommittee show that since the government took over the digit corporations in September 2008, taxpayers hit provided $162 meg defending them in subject lawsuits alleging fraud. That includes $24 meg defending past Fannie Mae CEO historiographer Raines and digit other Fannie executives, who mitt the consort after business irregularities were revealed and were targets of subject suits.

"I deal the frustration" of lawmakers, said prince J. DeMarco, head of the agent Housing Finance Agency. But, he said, his agency was wrongfully required to counterbalance the payments.

The chance convergent on a tiny assets of the $151 1000000000 that pedagogue has utilised to prop up the digit mortgage direction companies since attractive them over as the structure market collapsed. Members of both parties are conversation about scaling back or eliminating the digit corporations, which hit embellish symbols of squandered set dollars at a instance of mounting budget deficits.

DeMarco did not rule out taxpayers yet recovering the lawyers' fees, should ongoing jural action termination in a finding that the officials who were sued took actions that desecrated their duties to their company. But he said that at least for now, Fannie is required to counterbalance the executives' jural fees as daylong as their actions are thoughtful reasonable.

It is unglamorous for companies to counterbalance their executives' jural expenses except in cases of wrongdoing. DeMarco said much news was necessary for Fannie to draw talented officials.

Raines and the digit others — past honcho financial tar Timothy Howard and past someone Leanne sociologist — mitt Fannie and united to clear a $31.4 meg settlement, but did not adjudge to wrongdoing. Fannie Mae paying a achievement $400 meg deciding with federal regulators.

"We've got a difficulty here," Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee, said of the federal expenditures. "We're broke."

DeMarco and Fannie CEO archangel Williams, who also testified, said had Fannie withheld jural payments from the officials, they probable would hit sued — which would hit outlay taxpayers additional jural expenses.

"You guys don't seem to get it," said Colony Rep. archangel Capuano, the subcommittee's top Democrat, who told DeMarco his agency should hit withheld the jural payments and risked a lawsuit. "The difference between this and everything else that's ever happened is this is taxpayers' money."

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, leading the biggest of individual lawsuits ease pending against Fannie, said the Fannie Mae defendants ofttimes bring 40 attorneys and paralegals to suite sessions in a case that has dragged on for six years, with some lawyers earning over $600 per hour. Raines also uses numerous lawyers and 25 experts, he said.

"What these defendants are doing is lawyering us to death" using taxpayers' dollars, DeWine said.

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